Snazzy party for a cause: Inner-City Arts presents Summer on Seventh

Kids play at Inner-City Arts

Iwan Baan / Iwan Baan

ET-Inner-City-Arts -- Inner City Arts, a just-completed campus of buildings on the edge of skid row in downtown L.A. designed by Michael Maltzan. The campus is a bit of all-white, angular, adventurous architecture in a sea of warehouses, SRO hotels and social-service agencies for the homeless. It serves kids from the LAUSD, who are bussed for classes in drawing, painting, ceramics, dance, music and other subjects. The design, which Maltzan began in the early 1990s, just after leaving Frank Gehry's office to start his own firm, is marked by a tension between giving the students a calm oasis and reaching tentatively out into the neighborhood.

ET-Inner-City-Arts -- Inner City Arts, a just-completed campus of buildings on the edge of skid row in downtown L.A. designed by Michael Maltzan. The campus is a bit of all-white, angular, adventurous architecture in a sea of warehouses, SRO hotels and social-service agencies for the homeless. It serves kids from the LAUSD, who are bussed for classes in drawing, painting, ceramics, dance, music and other subjects. The design, which Maltzan began in the early 1990s, just after leaving Frank Gehry's office to start his own firm, is marked by a tension between giving the students a calm oasis and reaching tentatively out into the neighborhood. (Iwan Baan / Iwan Baan)

Every year Inner-City Arts buses approximately 8,000 children from some of L.A.'s most underserved communities to its Michael Maltzan-designed downtown L.A. campus. There, amidst a gleaming-white modernist landscape, the kids are immersed in art in a way that their neighborhood schools can't afford.

That's why each summer the school holds an elaborate fundraising party targeted at arts lovers and others interested in both their communities and the lives of the city's children.

This year's party, called Summer on Seventh, is taking place on Saturday from 7 p.m. to midnight. It features a rooftop concert with performances by Peanut Butter Wolf, Yacht and De Lux; as well as DJ set by dublab that concludes with a show by Daedalus.

Animal Charm, known for its elaborate video projections, will furnish mood lighting; the Spare Room will shake up specialty cocktails; Stumptown will provide caffeinated stimulation; food trucks including Guerilla Tacos, Heirloom L.A., Salt & Straw and Urban Oven will satiate appetites and experimental video games will honor the kid in everyone.

The goal of the night is to host 1,000 guests, says the center's associate director of public engagement, Justin Veach, who co-curated the event.

"I think L.A. is quite possibly the creative center of the universe right now, and Inner-City Arts is about leveling the playing field for the kids who live in the areas surrounding downtown, which are some of the most underserved communities in the city," says Veach. "We offer these kids free access to arts education and help unlock their potential. We think creativity is key to living a happy, fulfilled life."

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